Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition Will NOT Be Heading to PC; Full FAQ

Speaking in a FAQ published on their official website, Eidos and Square Enix adressed today a full run-down of this month's next-gen re-release of last year's Tomb Raider reboot (that sentance hurt my head to type), titled Tomb Raider: Definitive Editon  for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One stating that "At the time, a PC update is not planned".

Other highlights from the FAQ included a full-list of what to expect in this next-gen title that was previously announced at the Spike Video Game Awards just last month:

New game content:

The core action and story of Tomb Raider remain intact, but we’ve added all post-launch DLC, as well as a few bonus offerings that let you dive deeper into Tomb Raider’s development. Here’s what you can expect:
· The fully rebuilt game for next-generation consoles
· The Tomb of the Lost Adventurer
· Eight DLC multiplayer maps
· Six DLC multiplayer weapons
· Four DLC multiplayer characters
· Six alternate outfits for Lara
· Dark Horse digital comic book “Tomb Raider: The Beginning”
· Brady Games digital art book “Tomb Raider: The Art of Survival”
· “The Final Hours of Tomb Raider” documentary series

Bug Fixes:

Yes. All of the title updates rolled into the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 editions of Tomb Raider have been included in Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition.

And as to what truly makes this game "next-gen":

Yes, we think the graphical improvements are pretty great. The team didn’t just up-rez the game. They pulled it apart and rebuilt it with new technology, finally allowing us to reach the vision for Tomb Raider that we always wanted.

You can see the sweat, mud, and blood on Lara. Her eyes are much more expressive and her hair realistic. We also improved gear movement in Definitive Edition – her axe will sway and necklace will react to movement as Lara traverses the island. The Endurance crew has been spruced up, too.

As for the island, we’ve added weather and lighting effects, extra vegetation, improved physics, reactive water surfaces, and more. Yamatai is now alive with motion. When Lara stops, the world keeps moving. We didn’t just improve the rain; we reworked it until it felt torrential – like another enemy out to get Lara.

If you want to get geeky, our gameplay is now in full 1080p, we have subsurface scattering on our characters, real-time particle lighting, Tress FX support for Lara’s hair, upgraded reactive water, full world simulation, and more. We’ve also completely rebuilt Lara’s head and face model from the ground up with a denser topology giving improvements on features for eyes, nose, mouth, cheeks, etc. All of her textures are higher resolution as well.

As for other next-gen additions, The Xbox One allows you to use Kinect to change weapons, attachments, and navigate the menu with your voice. You can also rotate and inspect relics with hand gestures, and find new viewpoints by leaning into the world. The PlayStation 4’s Dualshock 4 controller lights up red and orange when using the torch, and quick flashes when Lara is shooting. The PlayStation 4 version also allows you to stream Tomb Raider to the PlayStation Vita.

Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition released Jan 28.

For more, read my review of the game here.

Sony Announces 'PlayStation NOW' Video-Game Streaming Service

At the Consumer Electronics Show today in Las Vegas, Sony has unveiled their newest feature that will finally be utilized on Sony devices such as the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PlayStation VITA, and Bravia TV Sets, phones, and tablets.

PlayStation NOW, powered by Gaikai, a subscription-based streaming service Sony acquired in 2012 for the hefty tag of $380 million, will act as a glorified Netflix for video-games, allowing gamers to instantly play the most updated version of any game listed, with no download or wait required, all that will be needed is a solid internet connection and a subscription, which has yet to be announced.

According to GamesBeat:

PlayStation Now will enable players to rent games one at a time, but it will also feature a subscription model that will likely give players access to a huge library for a monthly or annual rate. Sony did not provide pricing info at the presentation.

The company plans to start a closed beta of PlayStation Now in the U.S. by the end of this month. It will roll out the service in full this summer. At first, the streaming program will only feature PlayStation 3 games, but Sony could add older works in the future.

This feature was teased at E3 over the summer, to much praise as this will effectively be the first of it's kind for consoles, exclusive to Sony devices.

Sony also announced that 4.2 million PlayStation 4 consoles have been sold as of now from it's November 15 launch-date.

ALIEN: ISOLATION. In The Next Gen, No One Can Hear You Scream.

 

After the shocking disappointment that was last year's Gearbox/SEGA joint Aliens: Colonial Marines, it appears something big has been cooking up the whole time for a new generation of pure survival horror on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.

David Houghton of GamesRadar has the hands on:

This is something you've never seen before. It's a brutal, intense, harrowing, densely crafted triple-A experience, going right back to the original 1979 source material to create something utterly true to Ridley Scott's Alien. And from what I've played and seen so far, it looks very, very, very good indeed. In fact the last time I previewed a licensed game that looked this faithful and this high of quality, it was Batman: Arkham Asylum.

Houghton stressed the pure survival horror nature of the game:

You are not going to be fighting Aliens in Alien: Isolation. You are going to be going up against one Alien at a time, in unscripted, unpredictable encounters in dark, oppressive, cramped conditions. And the only win to be had will be escape. Try to take on a Xenomorph, and you will die. Try to outrun a Xenomorph, and you will die. Be seen, heard, sensed or suspected while too close to a Xenomorph, and there’s a very high probability indeed that you will die. Within seconds. Almost without warning. And you will die terrified.

Houghton then went on to talk about the ammount of AI work that went into the Xeno, saying that is is a truly living, breathing, fluid creature that moves in ways that gamers have never seen before and that "I’ve never faced a scarier creature in a video game. Ever."

I'm sure your thinking well if this game is so damn terrifying and survival-horror based, what can I use to fight the Alien? Surley I have someting?

You do. A Motion tracker.

The only consistent tool you’ll have in “combating” the Alien’s advances will be a hand-held motion tracker. That’s it. And even within the pantheon of video game motion trackers, it’s hardly the most effective weapon of choice. It works on a two-tiered system. Large blocks at the edges of its display will light up when the Alien is on the move at a distance, but all they’ll really tell you is from which of four rough directions death is likely to be coming. No handy radar blip. Not even any indicator of distance.

There will be items to be crafted, however, much in the vein of Naughty Dog's gripping PlayStation 3 exclusive, The Last of Us, Houghton says:

There will be helpful equipment to find along the way, but in the tradition of the Nostromo crew’s desperate, bodged-together, homemade anti-Alien equipment, it looks like you’ll be wrangling tools rather than weapons. Along the course of our knuckle-clenching crawl through the station, we found multiple bits of scrap and a few sources of fuel for an--at the time--unavailable crafting system. Though few details are available at the moment, I’d bet real dollar-pounds on this bringing a limited array of misdirection and evasion tools into play by way of frantically salvaged raw materials

Who will you play as though? Ripley; but not the one you're thinking of. You'll be assuming the role of Amanda Ripley, the daughter briefly mentioned in the beginning of James Cameron's ALIENS Director's Cut; which struck as one of the saddest moments in that entire film, where Sigourney Weaver shows fantastic range in how awful she feels that she out-lived her only daughter...

You see the way that Alien: Isolation crafts its story and weaves Amanda into the Alien mythology just makes total sense. It’s 15 years after the Nostromo went nuclear and Ripley went missing. The ill-fated tug-boat’s black box has finally made its way back to civilisation, salvaged by the crew of a once prosperous but now dilapidated trading station. Amanda, having followed in her mother’s footsteps and joined the space corps, volunteers for the recovery mission.

 

Houghton spoke at great lengths regarding the sound design, level design, and aesthetics of the game that make it appear to be the most authentic ALIEN experience just short of actually flying into space and working on the Nostromo.

There is no set release date for ALIEN: Isolation yet; but there is actually gameplay and interviews with Creative Assembly and SEGA.

While I'd recommend being cautiously optimistic about this after the devastating pile of shit that was Aliens: Colonial Marines; it's hard not jump up and down at the thought that this franchise will finally live on in video-game form as a purely terrifying experience brought to life with accuracy, care, and respect for it's universe.

Discover the true meaning of fear in Alien: Isolation, a survival horror set in an atmosphere of constant dread and mortal danger. Fifteen years after the events of Alien™, Ellen Ripley’s daughter, Amanda enters a desperate battle for survival, on a mission to unravel the truth behind her mother's disappearance. As Amanda, you will navigate through an increasingly volatile world as you find yourself confronted on all sides by a panicked, desperate population and an unpredictable, ruthless Alien. Underpowered and underprepared, you must scavenge resources, improvise solutions and use your wits, not just to succeed in your mission, but to simply stay alive.

PlayStation 4 Review: KNACK

 

When KNACK was first revealed at the Sony PlayStation "See The Future First" Event earlier this year, many had hoped the game would be a cute, light-hearted, colorful return to Sony's platforming prime such as the Jak & Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, Sly Cooper, and Crash Bandicoot days.
KNACK promised a colorful world with the unique gameplay advantage of a character that morphs and grows as he absorbs more "relics" to power him, while also acting as a tech-demo of the PlayStation 4's processing power, able to manage all of Knack's thousands of moving pieces in real time.

The actual game, however, delivers a colorful, bright, and aesthetically detailed finished product; but lacks any depth and real heart to it.
To put it simply, KNACK is beautiful little mess that never really lives up to it's own potential, or the high standard Sony's previous platformers have been held up to.

Knack's story takes place in a world where Goblins and Humans have had an uneasy truce after the humans discovered the Sun-Stones and "ancient relics" from Goblin mines, which have become the new energy source for our cities and industry. When the Goblins start attacking human settlements with more advanced weaponry than just bows and catapults, the Governments of the world seek the aid of a billionare industrialist, a renowned explorer and Goblin expert, a lab assistant, and his professor who holds the key to it all, a cute little creature named Knack.

 

While the plot is somewhat unique and isn't actually as predictable as one would think initially, sans the painfully obvious "secret badguy", the writing is very bland and while the game is light-hearted, it is almost devoid of humor entirley.

KNACK's gameplay is a platformer beat-em-up which never truly succeeds at being either until very late in the game when the platforming segment becomes an actual challenge, and while the combat is fun, there are never any new ways to play it, despite having a character that could be used in countless fun gameplay types.
Knack realizes later in the game that he can absorb other elements other than the relics which power him, which leads to Wooden Knack, Ice Knack, and Metal Knack, which do absolutley nothing to the gameplay other than give Knack a new color-scheme depending on which of the three he absorbs, which is sad because it chalks up to the game's "Wasted Potential" category, aside from one high-light moment where KNACK takes after a giant rampaging monster film, tearing through the city fighting tanks and jets from the Goblin army, and then at the game's climax when all hell breaks lose and you find yourself fighting monstrous gollems and creatures unleashed from an ancient world.

 

The levels are very pretty to look at, all look lush and vivid, but sadly lack any great design to them.

The game does actually become a challenge, and for a single-player game that clocks in at around 10 hours, the challenge is nice both to keep you on your toes, as well as to remind you games can still be "hard on Normal Difficulty in a world of regenarting health and hand-holding.

KNACK also features a Co-Op style similar to the Lego games of drop-in/drop-out gameplay, which comes in handy as the character is faced with some truly challenging odds and enemy types as the game progress. The game is also good for trophy hunters seeking an "easy Platinum" if you're a skilled gamer who doesn't mind honing his skills for the game's speed-runs.

The PlayStation 4's library is small now, with only shooters, sports games, and a racing game; but KNACK is worth a purchase for those who want a comfy little mindless action; but don't mind the fact KNACK really ever brings anything unique or innovative to it's genre.  

All things considered, KNACK is a beautifully made mess that doesn't live up to the high standards Sony platformers are known for; but it does give a nice glimpse into future installments of Ratchet & Clank, Jak and Daxter, and Sly Cooper as well as showing off that there are still adventures that can be shared between all ages, with enough challenges for all parties to enjoy.

Live-Action CALL OF DUTY: GHOSTS Trailer from James Mangold

 

It isn't a Holiday season without the latest installment of the Call of Duty franchise out on shelves, and 2013 is ramping up to be franchise's biggest year with Call of Duty: GHOSTS.

James Mangold, who directed The Wolverine and 3:10 to Yuma, helms the commercial, starring Megan Fox (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Jennifer's Body)

This year, “The Wolverine’s” Mangold made a rare switch from films to the commercial world to helm “Epic Night Out,” an over-the-top Las Vegas set actioner which features a group of friends in explosive situations set to the Frank Sinatra toon of “I’m Gonna Live Till I Die.” Fox is featured as a gun-toting heroine along the way.

“The idea of camaraderie and making this the ultimate boys’ night out led us to ‘Epic Night Out,’” said Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing.

Hirshberg goes on to say about the commercial:

“Briging the game world to life and showing eveyr nationality, different genders, celebrities, athletes, regular people inhabiting the game world has always been part of the franchise’s campaigns from the beginning,” Hirshberg said. “They’ve been about making the gamer an integral part of the game. Games are a unique medium. Rather than a movie where you can show clips, with videogames you and your friends are a huge part of the story and creating the experience.”

Call of Duty: GHOSTS, directed by Sylvian Doreau (Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II) and written by the Oscar-winning Stephen Gaghan (Traffic, Syriana) stars Brandon Routh (Superman Returns, Dylan Dog: Dead of Night), Stephen Lang (AVATAR, Public Enemies) and Kevin Gage (Heat, G.I. Jane).

Ten years after a devastating mass event, the nation's borders and the balance of global power have been redrawn forever. As what's left of the nation's Special Operations forces, a mysterious group known only as "Ghosts" leads the fight back against a newly emerged, technologically-superior global power.

The game drops in stores for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, X-Box One, PC, and X-Box 360 on November 5.

Eidos Montreal Reveals DEUS EX: UNIVERSE; Talks Of Next-Gen Title

 

2011's critically acclaimed and commercially successful rebirth of the Deus Ex franchise, "Deus Ex: Human Revolution", left one thing on the brain of many gamers and that was "What's next?" Well, two years later, Eidos Montreal has hinted at the franchises future via a blog-post from the head of Eidos Montreal, David Anfossi.

In a post titled "The Future Vision for Deus Ex", starts off with the the latest trailer for "Deus Ex: Human Revolution Director's Cut", in stores October 22 for PC, Wii U, PS3, and Xbox 360.

We will be releasing the game on October 22 (25 in PAL regions) on the Wii U, PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. Over the last 18 months, the team has been working very hard on the development of the Director’s Cut. With this edition, we gave the team the envious task of pushing the boundaries of innovation and creativity to explore something we believe will become a big part of the future of the franchise, the second screen experience. When the game launches, players will have the opportunity to experience Human Revolution in a new and unique way through SmartGlass, the PSVita and the Wii U GamePad.

The blog then continues and gets into the first bit of news regarding the franchises' future:

The concept behind Deus Ex: Universe is to create an ongoing, expanding and connected game world built across a generation of core games. It’s a commitment on our part to deliver meaningful content that expands the franchise on a regular basis and to deliver a deep conspiracy that will span several connected Deus Ex games, creating a more immersive and richer experience than ever before. Deus Ex: Universe will include PC and console games, but also additional Deus Ex games and experiences available in other media such as tablets, smartphones, books, graphic novels, etc... You might have seen the name pop up recently in the press – well this is what it’s all about.

I’m pleased to confirm that we are already into production of the starting point for Deus Ex: Universe with a new game for PC and next-generation consoles. We’re very excited about it at the studio and I wanted to let you know that most of the team behind Deus Ex: Human Revolution is already working hard on this new game. It took us four years to learn how to create a unique Deus Ex experience with Human Revolution and it was important for me to keep this knowledge within the franchise.

It appears we're not done with this fantastic world, and given the amount of care and detail that went into "Human Revolution", more is always a good thing. Anfossi leaves with a first-look at concept art from the upcoming Next-Gen game for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, which looks to be a much darker installment than the gorgeous renaissance-era beauty of "Human Revolution"; but the beauty of the future was only hiding the wide-spread corruption and moral darkness that was found in the hearts and souls of it's cast.

 

I want to leave you with a piece of concept art from our next-gen Deus Ex game that shows trans-humanism segregation, which is a backdrop to our vision for the next Deus Ex. It represents a "ghetto-city' voluntarily built in order to separate the classes. The people in this segregated class have reshaped their environment, nostalgic for their ideal of Cyber Renaissance. This dark and dystopian vision sets the tone for things to come in Deus Ex.

"Tomb Raider" Sequel And Interquel Comic Coming Soon; Expected To Be Pretty Edgy

 

If you're like me, and loved "Tomb Raider", you'll probably be excited to hear the sequel is well on it's way.
"Tomb Raider" was my surprise hit of the year, and i'm excited that there's going to be a "canon" comic interquel, as well as a next gen sequel.

Hopefully it's longer than the 5 hour game we got.

 Darrell Gallagher, former Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics' studio head, now head of product development and studios at Square Enix, added today, "It's still early days, so I'm afraid I can't provide any further details for now save my assurance that we're not resting on our laurels and acclaim from Tomb Raider's recent successes, but working hard to raise the bar even higher and re-affirm the faith you've shown."

As for your comic:

Gail Simmone, of Wonder Woman, Deadpool, and Batgirl game, will be writing the comic, to which she says will tie directly into the 2013 reboot's  sequel.

...we start just a few weeks after the end of the game, and this is all in continuity, it will be Tomb Raider canon, and lead DIRECTLY into the sequel. This is what got me excited; we get to be part of Lara Croft history

The comic is due out February 26, 2014. 

Review: The Last of Us

Now, I know the words "cinematic" and "perfect" and "visceral" get thrown around a lot when describing AAA Games, and especially this one. I'm not getting into spoilers; but the last of us is not the "CITIZEN KANE" of gaming. I'd compare The Last of Us to WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE of gaming.
I say WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE; because The Last of Us is so heavy and so beautiful that I never want to play it again.

It's an emotional experience unlike almost anything I've ever felt. The characters are so real, so flawed, so painfully human, that from the game's gut-wrenching opening to it's haunting ending, you truly feel like these are real people. Not ones written on the page or animated.

Troy Baker, who recently starred in Bioshock: Infinite as Booker DeWitt, gives the performance of his career so far; as does Ellen Paige Ashley Johnson who steals the game as Ellie, the young girl you escort across the country. 

The game-play is tight and weighty. The guns pop, the punches connect, and the brutality is a sickening mix of satisfaction and duty- all stemming from an emotional core of the game, which is survival and protection. The "crafting" system does not feeling gimmicky or like it's forcing you to level up, you can go the entire game without doing it; but the upgrades are easy to craft and the item making system is superb. I found myself often in the heat of battle or trying to stay quiet around a group of enemies; trying to thoroughly plan out attacks and decide if I should use my items on a health-kit; or make a cock-tail bomb. To craft a shiv to silently kill my foes; or create a nail-bomb to take them out at once.

The environments are jaw-dropping and beautiful, while also haunting and deeply sad in a way you have to experience. More often than once, I'd find myself slowly walking through the world, crushed by the weight and depression of the fact these were once homes and offices, buildings that people worked and had lives in. Suitcases still on the floors, bags packed, rotting corpses hang from cars on the highway, and I just sat there imagining all of this calamity during the evacuations. Never has a world so "empty" and desolate of life felt so very alive and breathing.
An atmosphere so heavy and choking I had to pause the game quite a few times.

The game's only flaws are slightly odd AI at the beginning, and some slight hiccups graphically; and only happened once or twice, mainly when the AI would tell you to "be quiet" around the Clickers, the blind enemy in the game that reply on sound and will kill you instantly, and the characters literally run circles around it trying to get to cover; but if you, the player, do that then the whole swarm decends on you.
Slightly immersion breaking; but only for a minute before you're sucked back in.
These flaws, however, are mere specs of dust on a priceless work of art.

The Last of Us is the PlayStation 3's swan-song, and it is the most beautiful melody I have ever heard.
It is a game that leaves you a hollow shell; and all you can do is think of how bittersweet and gorgeous what you just experienced was.

E3 2013 Reveals Pricing for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

The Electronic Entertainment Expo captured the attention of media experts, gamers, and average joes all-over as it kicked off today, giving us glimpses of upcoming titles like "Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain", "Halo", "Kingdom Hearts 3", "Destiny", "TITANFALL", "Star Wars: Battlefront", and "Mirror's Edge 2"

Behind all the big game announcements from Microsoft, Sony, Ubisoft, and EA, prices were revealed for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, making sure people readied their wallets for holiday 2K13. 

Microsoft's Xbox One will launch for $499, while Sony unveiled later on last night that the PlayStation 4 would launch for $399.
Sony Computer Entertainment America CEO Jack Tretton also dropped a bombshell on the audience, letting them know that they would not be restricting players with DRM, constant internet connections, and doing away with used games.

Along with that, Tretton also showed off what the PlayStation 4 would look like.

New Trailer for "Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2"

At today's Konami Pre-E3 conference, a new trailer for "Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2" was released. The game is a direct sequel to 2010's Castlevania reboot. "Castlevania: Lords of Shadow".

"Lords of Shadow 2" takes place in an open-world setting, and will also take place both in Dracula's castle, and a modern city. Enric Alvarez of Mercury Games also described "Lords of Shadow 2" to be much darker, and "almost cruel", saying the plot will be defined by it's intense and contradictory feelings. 

"Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2" is set for a Winter release.